God does not prevent, God heals.

I love psalm 34.  It reads

The Lord confronts the evildoers, 
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the Lord hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.

I think that is the kind of Lord most of us want, someone to confront those who do evil, and destroys their memory.

But in my experience, the Lord does not do that. At least, not that often. Not as often as I would like.

And so, the other part of psalm 34 comforts me:

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Many are the troubles of the just person,
but out of them all the Lord delivers.

It seems even the psalmists, who desires that the Lord would confront all those who would do us evil, realizes that it does not always happen. That we become broken, crushed, and troubled.

I love this psalm precisely because it gives us what we would like, and the reality of life. We would like a  God who delivers us here and now.

But the reality is, God delivers us gradually. God does not save us from brokenness. God does not keep us from getting crushed.

And yet, God is there for us, to raise us up, to heal and renew.

And in time, we realize that God is far more powerful to heal than to prevent.